Edge Hill Light Railway
| “ | a dead duck of a railway from inception[1] | ” |
The Edge Hill Light Railway, one of Colonel Stephens' light railways, was in Warwickshire, England. It was designed to carry ironstone from Edge Hill Quarries to Burton Dassett where a junction was made with the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway. It was never officially opened, but began operating in 1922.[1]
In the middle of the line, there was a cable-worked inclined plane at 1 in 6 (16%). As the quarry was at the top of the incline, the incline could be worked as self-acting: the weight of full ore wagons descending was sufficient to draw the empties back up.
Within three years it was found that the iron ore deposits were uneconomic, and the line closed in 1922 it was not dismantled until 1946. A caretaker was employed until the late 1930s in the possibility that the line could be re-opened. In 1942, permanent way from the lower portion of the line was requisitioned for the construction of Long Marston army depot. This had the effect of isolating the line, and the remaining stock at the top of the incline, from the main line and so they survived there until 1946.[2]
References
- 1 2 "The Railway". Colonel Stephens Museum.
- ↑ Burton, Anthony; Scott-Morgan, John (1985). Britain's Light Railways. Ashbourne: Moorland Publishing. pp. 110–111. ISBN 0-86190-146-0.